How Red Light Therapy Can Help Post Workout

Red Light Therapy is a safe and effective therapy for your muscles, ligaments and tendons. By harnessing the power of light in your post workout regime you could see some incredible benefits. We’ll go into more detail in this post.

“Red Light Therapy (RLT) or Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) has the potential to promote tissue healing and decrease pain,” Frank Hoeffner, a physical therapist at Professional Physical Therapyexplains. “There is some evidence that shows RLT and LLLT have some promising results, helping athletes and patients heal and recover more quickly.”

Recent studies also suggest that red light therapy is amazing in terms of muscle growth – and it’s safe. Red Light Therapy works by emitting light wavelengths onto one’s body and the absorption into the skin and surrounding areas can have profound affects. It is like safely overclocking your body but instead of increasing voltage input, we ask the human cells to increase their work-load.

Performance Enhancement

Red Light Therapy is used by many athletes. A major reason why it is so popular is that it helps increase blood flow to the target area of the body.

The better the blood flow, the more you can strain your muscles. In other words, your physical output will be more efficient and better than before. Also, because of the growth in production of anti-oxidants and blood capillaries in the body, more oxygen is transported to parts of the body. More oxygen means that you will be able to lift those dumb-bells for longer and harder without getting muscle fatigue.

In short, you will experience better strength, more stamina and better recovery.

Helping with DOMS

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is a very common condition where muscles experience fatigue and soreness 24-72 hours after being put under stress. People who join gym for the first time in a long time, or people who restart gym after a long break experience DOMS in the first week of working out. The fatigue lasts for more than a day and are both physically exhausting as well as painful.

Using red light therapy before workout is a great way to counter DOMS but using it after workout is an effective method of ensuring that your DOMs don’t last longer than usual. In addition to shortening the lifespan of muscle fatigue, RLT also helps manage the pain.

Reduce physical body stress

Sure, stressing your body during workout may be a good thing, but after working out your body does need to cool down. It must decrease workload so it can focus on repairing itself.

Red light helps by reducing physical body stress and hence, will help increase the gains your body will make after a workout.

Increase in Antioxidants

Another way RLT helps in reducing physical stress is by increasing the production of anti-oxidants. After working out, muscles tend to get sore. Some people strive for this post workout soreness, but most of us really hate this feeling. Anti-oxidants help eliminate the oxidants that are the leading reasons for muscle fatigue.

Antioxidants also increase the production of heat proteins – a vital protein that is responsible for repairing and constructing muscle. Hence, the higher the production of heat proteins, the more the gains for you to enjoy, if that’s your thing…

Repairing various kinds of damage

Aside from increasing protein production, low level light therapy (LLLT) also helps in other kinds of damage on your skin. It also has anti-ageing benefits and can be used by people of all ages. Here are some of the damages that red light therapy can repair:

Sun damage

Wrinkles & fine lines

Scars and stretch marks

Acne

Muscle – for rebuilding and enhancement

Wound

Inflammation

Benefits beyond workout

In addition to workout benefits, low level light therapy users also experience additional benefits. Some of these benefits include:

Anti-aging – People who use phototherapy have a smoother and silkier skin that radiates youth. Hence, you will look better no matter your age.

Reduced hair loss – Hair loss is one of the worst problems that plague the world. Red Light Therapy helps in reducing the amount of hair that your body loses on a day-to-day rate.

Repairing broken strands – In addition to reducing hair loss, PT also helps repairing the hair pores that have already been destroyed and thus, one can experience a better scalp.

Fixing sleep cycle – Red light helps fix sleep cycle and you should experience a better night’s sleep after several sessions. No more need to stay up till late at night, staring at the abyss to force yourself to go to sleep.

Aside from these amazing post work benefits, there are countless other benefits of using red light therapy in your daily routines.